Spotless

Inspiration

While sitting at a fried chicken restaurant, we noticed that the table felt oily even though it looked completely clean. That frustrating experience of invisible grime led us to ask a bigger question. How can we help people avoid germs they cannot see? This moment inspired us to build Spotless, a system that turns hidden germs into visual cues so users do not have to guess whether their environment is truly clean. Our experience working in food service also shaped this idea. In those environments, allergens are a serious safety concern. Cross contamination can happen easily and it is often difficult to notice. This pushed us to think about how a tool like Spotless could help people stay aware of both germs and allergens in everyday spaces.

What it does

Spotless allows users to visualize invisible hygiene risks using augmented reality. Through AR lenses that can attach to glasses or contacts, Spotless overlays visual indicators on surfaces to highlight potential germ clusters, contaminants, and allergens. This helps users understand where cleaning may be needed without relying on guesswork. The system focuses primarily on personal environments such as the home, where users have the most control over cleanliness. Spotless can scan rooms, guide users through cleaning tasks, and track their progress over time. Outside the home, Spotless shifts its focus. Instead of showing germs everywhere, which could be overwhelming, it helps users find the nearest and cleanest sanitation locations through crowdsourced restroom and hand washing information. Spotless also supports everyday activities like shopping, cooking, and food storage by scanning ingredients, identifying allergens, and detecting mold or expired food in refrigerators.

How we built it

We designed Spotless primarily in Figma. Most of our interface and interaction concepts were designed by hand to explore how AR elements could appear in a physical environment. We also used Figma Make to generate certain onboarding screens and data visualizations that would have taken much longer to design manually. This allowed us to prototype complex dashboards and information displays quickly while still focusing on the overall experience.

Challenges we ran into

One of the biggest challenges was deciding how to visualize germs. During early feedback sessions, many people told us that seeing germs everywhere might feel overwhelming or stressful. To address this, we redesigned the germ visuals to appear more friendly and animated, which makes the cleaning experience feel more approachable and even a little playful. Another important decision was limiting where germ visualization appears. Since public spaces will always contain germs, constantly showing them could create anxiety. Instead, Spotless focuses germ visualization inside the user’s home, where people can take meaningful action. We also wanted to keep the dashboard from feeling cluttered. To achieve this, we explored several AR-first interaction methods, including hand gestures, touch sensors on the lens device, and voice activation to toggle features on or off.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud that this was our first time designing for an AR environment. We also enjoyed creating the germ avatars, including prototyping their bouncing animations in Figma to give them personality and make cleaning interactions feel satisfying. Another accomplishment is the potential impact of Spotless. By combining AR visualization with practical guidance, the system could help people build better cleaning habits, avoid allergens, and make safer decisions when cooking or storing food.

What we learned

One of the biggest lessons from this project is that initial design ideas rarely stay the same. Through exploration and feedback, we refined our concepts and focused on the most meaningful features for users. Designing for AR also required a different mindset. Because the interface exists directly in the user's physical world, we had to be careful not to overload people with information. Reducing cognitive load became an important part of every design decision. Communication within the team was also critical. With many iterations and ideas happening at once, we occasionally ran into confusion. Meeting regularly and dividing responsibilities clearly helped us stay aligned and continue improving the product together. Through this project we also learned how to

design interactions for AR environments
organize complex data in a way that feels simple to users
collaborate effectively under time constraints
experiment with emerging interface concepts like liquid glass design

What's next for Spotless

In the future, Spotless could expand beyond cleanliness and allergens. One potential direction is real time emergency detection, such as identifying gas leaks and alerting users through multiple senses rather than only visual signals. We also want to add tool recommendations during cleaning tasks so the system can suggest the best cleaning methods based on the surface and type of contamination. Another future feature is shared household profiles, allowing families or roommates to track dietary restrictions and allergens together. This would make cooking and food storage safer for everyone in the home. Ultimately, we see Spotless evolving into a smart hygiene assistant that helps people stay aware, clean, and safe in their everyday environments.